NEWRY – Freedom took flight on Tuesday afternoon when 15 handicapped veterans took to the snow via skis, snowboards and snowshoes and volunteers aplenty.
Ear-to-ear grins on goggled faces reverberated a lot of warmth despite the windy, chilly day under the sun at Sunday River Ski Resort.
It was the second of three days of Maine Handicapped Skiing’s new Veterans/No Boundaries program at Sunday River Ski Resort.
“Did I enjoy myself? Absolutely!” Gene Ditto of North Easton, Mass., said after picking snow out of his jacket inside the MHS lodge.
“I was out in Colorado, and it doesn’t compare with this, the hills and the instructors,” he added. It is also the first time he’s been to Maine.
Ditto is an Army veteran who said he contracted multiple sclerosis in the military while working as a tank mechanic from 1958 to 1962.
His face lit up when an MHS volunteer handed him a map of Sunday River’s mountains with nearly every trail highlighted in green marker, showing all the trails on which Ditto had skied in two days.
Pride beamed on his face while he stared at the map, remembering what he had accomplished.
“I’ve done things skiing that I’ve never done before, and, hopefully, I’ll be able to do them again. I will come back, God willing,” Ditto said to Jill Lovely, the personal care assistant of fellow veteran handicapped skier Mike Guilbeault of Attleboro, Mass.
Guilbeault, who wore an American flag neckerchief, said he’d made a lot of progress under the tutelage on Tuesday of handicapped veteran Jay Germain, a handicapped skiing instructor of 19 years from Stowe.
Unlike Ditto, Guilbeault said he was an expert skier who had skied all the trails at Sunday River, except the newer ones, when he was younger.
“Looking at all the terrain I once skied was a little disappointing,” he said.
“Being in a wheelchair, there’s not a lot of things you can do, but, when you’re skiing, on a good day, you can do anything that stand-up people can do,” Guilbeault added.
He is a C6 quadriplegic, meaning he lacks voluntary control of his triceps muscles. Guilbeault said it was caused by a Cold War injury while he worked for the Department of Defense.
Leo Glaude of Biddeford suffered a stroke more than a year ago and totally forgot everything he learned in 56 years. Everything. He’s been learning how to talk and walk all over again and get back to outdoor recreation.
It took him six months to learn how to drive his all-terrain vehicle. But it took the Navy Seabees veteran from the Vietnam War less than a day to learn how to repair, grasp and use snowshoes.
He grinned at Herb Williams, of Portland, an Air Force radar technician, but was unable to find the words to talk about the three miles that the pair snowshoed.
Williams, a logger, served stateside during Vietnam, but suffered a leg and brain injury after being hit by a car five years ago while studying for a master’s degree at the University of New England.
One of his therapies is dancing.
“When I do contra dancing, everybody is smiling and people are saying, Hi,’ and kidding each other,” Williams said.
“Sometimes, I need to be reminded that we can do stuff, and how much fun it is. I have to remember that we can’t do it the same as we used to, but we can do it,” he said.
Speaking about Glaude, whom he just met Sunday, Williams said, “It’s amazing, some of these people, and the disabilities they have, and they’re busting down these hills.”
Maine Handicapped Skiing spokeswoman Wendy Iseman said Tuesday afternoon that the program originally was for Maine handicapped veterans. But they were slow to exit rehabilitation, so the organization opened the program to all handicapped veterans.
“Our goal is to provide recreational opportunities for them. It’s a big deal for them,” she said.
Thanks to a plethora of supporters ranging from American Legions to area businesses, the program was launched in September after MHS partnered with Pine Tree Camps.
Activities included canoeing, kayaking, cycling, fishing and martial arts. But only three people showed up. Word seems to be getting out better now, though, with 15 on hand for the first winter program.
“There is a real need for summer recreation and getting people back into sports they may have done before their injury, or introducing them to new sports,” Iseman said.
Those attending Tuesday’s events had multiple sclerosis, spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries, strokes, amputations and visual impairments.
Joanne McMahon, a retired Navy Nurse Corps commander and MHS director said she felt pride in her gut and heart at seeing the 12 men and three women enjoy themselves on the ski slopes.
“One of them said yesterday, I want my life back.’ Well, we’re opening a door that I hope stays open forever for them,” McMahon said.
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